Three years ago, a 22-acre blufftop estate in Carpinteria, California (just south of Santa Barbara) hit the market for $160 million. The estate was listed by hedge fund billionaire Bruce Kovner and his wife Suzie. Starting with their first purchase in 2007, Bruce and Suzie spent $100 million piecing together what they eventually named "Sanctuary at Loon Point." Kevin Costner was a seller in one of the transactions. The Kovners also spent $50 million renovating the two existing mansions, both of which span more than 9,000 square feet.
As we mentioned at the start of this article, Bruce and Suzie Kovner listed "Sanctuary at Loon Point" for $160 million in August 2021. In December 2022, Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi paid $70 million for essentially, 2/3rds of the listing. For $70 million, Ellen and Portia's bought one of the 9,000-square-foot mansions and an undeveloped 6.6-acre property. The Sanctuary's remaining 12 acres, with the OTHER 9,000-square-foot mansion, is still listed for sale by the Kovners for $75 million.
Below is a video tour of the full Sanctuary at Loon Point from when it was first listed by the Kovners in August 2021. At the 3:00 minute mark, there's a drone shot from the ocean facing the blufftop. You'll see two mansions and a large green garden on the right. Portia and Ellen bought the mansion in the center and the garden on the right.
Fast forward six months to June 2023, when Ellen and Portia paid $22.5 million for a home in nearby Montecito. This estate is called "Pompeiian Court." Pompeiian Court was originally built in 1919 and is considered one of the finest estates in Montecito. It is described as a "classic Roman courtyard residence," with all the rooms opening to a central courtyard. There's a main house, two guest houses, an art studio, and a pool cabana. Ellen and Portia fully renovated the estate in just under four months of ownership. They sold Pompeiian Court to mining billionaire Robert Friedland in early 2024 for $32 million. Here's Pompeiian Court:
As it turned out, Ellen and Portia regretted selling Pompeiian Court and grew uninterested in owning Sanctuary at Loon Point. Soooo, they came up with a creative solution that was just made public.
Ellen and Portia just sold their portion of Sanctuary at Loon Point for $96 million. The buyer was… Robert Friedland. And they are free to move back into Pompeiian Court because last month, they re-purchased that estate from Friedland for $32 million. The same price he paid them for the property earlier this year. Ellen and Portia have also subsequently purchased a vacant three-acre lot next to Pompeiian Court to give them an 11-acre footprint.
Robert Friedland earned his $3 billion net worth as the founder and chairman of Ivanhoe Capital, an investment fund that primarily focuses on energy and mining operations. But he has some other interesting claims to fame.
In 1970, while he was an undergraduate student at Bowdoin College, Robert was arrested for possessing 24,000 hits of LSD. The load had a street value of $125,000. That's the same as having $1 million worth of drugs today. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison. After getting out of jail, he moved to Oregon, where he enrolled at Reed College. During his time at Reed, Robert befriended a fellow student named Steve Jobs. The first time they met, Jobs walked into Friedland's dorm room looking for someone to buy his typewriter. Robert and his girlfriend at the time were mid-coitus when Steve walked in. Jobs apologized and tried to leave, but Robert told him to just hold on a few minutes until they were done and then they could discuss whatever he came to discuss.
Robert had recently spent time in India studying under a guru named Neem Karoli Baba. Steve was fascinated by his stories and experiences, later explaining that Robert "turned me on to a different level of consciousness." A third friend/student, future Apple employee #12, Daniel Kottke, would later recall:
"Robert was very much an outgoing, charismatic guy, a real salesman. When I first met Steve he was shy and self-effacing, a very private guy. I think Robert taught him a lot about selling, about coming out of his shell, of opening up and taking charge of a situation."
Robert's influence is said to have been instrumental in Jobs forming his famous "reality distortion field," which, for better or worse, gave Steve an extraordinary ability to convince people of almost anything… a combination of charisma, charm, and sheer force of will that allowed him to bend reality to his vision.
Steve dropped out of Reed after just one semester, but he continued living on campus and auditing classes. After Robert graduated from Reed he moved to his uncle's 220-acre farm not far from campus. Robert proceeded to convert the farm into a commune, much like the ones he saw while traveling in India. He called the commune "All One Farm." Members of the commune worked, lived, meditated, and took psychedelics to expand their consciousness. All One Farm's primary crop was… Apples. Steve, who at the time was briefly living off an all-fruit diet, was a frequent visitor and partaker at the commune.
In 1976, when he and Steve Wozniak were brainstorming names for their new computer company, Jobs suggested "Apple Computer Company." As he later recalled, Jobs thought the name "sounded fun, spirited and not intimidating… plus, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book."
